Wall texture smoothing trowel



I 64- wx July 19, 1932. D. R. HUMPHREYS 1,868,013

WALL TEXTURE SMOOTHING TROWEL Filed Aug. 28, 1930 a-- www Patented July19, 1932 UNITED STTES DAVID R. HUMPHREYS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIAWALL TEX'IURE SMOOTHING- TROWEL Application led August 28, 1930. SerialNo. 478,347.

This invention relates to plasterers tools, and more especially to atrowel of novel design adapted for use in producing certain decorativeeects in finishing the surface of both interior and exterior walls.

An object of the invention is to provide a trowel whereby the plastic,cementitious material applied to a wall, may be smoothed in any one ofseveral particular manners,

making it possible to produce a predetermined appearance in the ultimatewall.

A further obj ect it is to provide a trowel adapted for the use abovementioned, which is of a very simple nature, and which, ac-

eordingly, may be produced with a minimum of expense, and yet which iscapable of affording a great degree of convenience, and by the use ofwhich any of several dierent effects in wall finishing may be attained.

The invention possesses other objects and advantageous features, some ofwhich, with those enumerated, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the inventions particular embodiment which is'illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming a part of thespecification.

Referring to the drawing: Figure 1 is a plan view of a smoothing trowelembodying the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation, the direction of View being indicated bythe arrow 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of a slightly modified form of trowel.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a still further modified form.

Fig. 5 is a View taken in section through a partially finished wall,showing the man-y ner in which a trowel embodying the principles of thepresent invention is employed.

Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive, show four different types of wall nishing, eachview indicating the appearance of the wall both before and after theapplication thereto of the smoothing trowel, and also indicating themanner in which the smoothing'trowel is applied to the wall.

The trowel of the present invention is intended to be used as means forfacilitating the step of imparting the final finishing to the materialof a wall surface, wherein that surface is formed of plastic,self-hardening material such as a suitable wall plaster or any one ofvthe various prepared compositions available upon the market for 'suchuse. v55 Modern architecture employs various types of linishes for bothinterior and exterior walls of this general character, and the use of myimproved smoothing trowel makes it possible to attain any one of theseseveral finishes i0 with the same materials, the dierent finishes beingsecured by different manners of applying a roughening element and thetrowel subsequent thereto.v v

' Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, show three different 65 embodiments of thesmoothing trowel of the present invention, each of which is in Vthe formof a triangular plate made of resilient material, preferably Celluloidof suitable gauge. Although the thickness of the trowel may be variedWithout departing from the spirit of the present invention, I have foundthat Celluloid substantially one-sixteenth (fr") of an inch inthickness, is best suited as the material from which the trowels shouldbe made.

Referring specifically to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the trowel 11there illustrated, is triangular in form, having a relatively wide base12 at one end with the sides 13 and 14 80 of the triangles dened by theplate 11, converging toward the apex 16, thus defining a relativelynarrow handle portion 17. The triangle defined by the base'12 and sides13 and Y 14, is substantially a right triangle, inasmuch as the angle 18which is between the side 14 and the base 12, `is substantially inextent. Consequently, the end 19 of the base 12 proximal to the angle18, does not project laterally as far from the handle 17 as 90 does theopposite end 21 of the base. This makes it possible to reach intorelatively inaccessible places and into relatively sharp corners of thewall to which the smoothing trowel is being applied, and it also makesthe trowel fit the hand ofthe user more vnaturally than would be thecase if the handle were disposed equidistantly from and extendingperpendicularly from the base 12.

The trowel 11 is to be applied to the wall 100 in such a manner that thebase 12 serves as a smoothing portion. The trowel is held as indicatedupon Fig. 5, with the base 12 restingV against the wall 22 to whichplastic, cementitious material 23 has been applied. The handle portion17 is grasped by the hand of the operator as shown, and a slight degreeof pressure exerted thereagainst so as to flex the trowel 11, slightlybending the. central or neck portion 24, with the result that thesmoothing portion or base -12 inclines at a very slight angle from thewall, whereas the handle portion 17 inclines more steeply.V lnasmuch asthe satisfactory operation of the trowel depends upon its being flexedslightly when the smoothing portion is pressedA into smoothingengagement with the wall, means are provided for increasing the inherentflexibility of the neck portion 24 which is intermediate the base l2 andthe handle 17. This is accomplished by providing concave portions orrecesses 26 and 27 in the side edges 3 and 14 respectively, of thetrowel 11, thus decreasing the width of the neck portion, with the'result that its inherent flexibility is materially increased. -Hence,the major portion of the flexing of the trowel will occur at the neckportion 24, permitting that portion of the trowel intermediate the neck24 and the apex 16, to extend at a greater angle with respect to thesurface of the wall than that portion of the trowel 11 which is disposedbetween the neck portion 24 and the base 12. The trowel 3l illustratedupon Fig.` 3 is similar to that already described, the principaldiferentiation being that its base 32 is materially Wider than the base12 of the trowel 11. The side edges 33 and 34 of the trowel 31, aresimilarly provided with recesses 36 and 37 respectively, defining theneck 38 of reduced width, so that the flexibility of this portion of thetrowel isincreased in the same manner as in the case offthepreviously.described modification. It will be observed that the portion39 of the side 34 which lies between the recess 37 and 4 larlyextending-wall or ceiling.

The modihcation of trowel 44 shown upon F 4, is substantially the sameas that of Figs. 1 and 2, with the exception that its base 46 isconsiderably narrower than the base 12. The sides 47 and 48 are recessedas at 49 and lrespectively, providing a neck 52:0f reduced width. Theangle 53 between the side` 48 and the base 46, is substantially a rightangle.

Each of the trowels 11, 31, and 44, is preferably provided with a hole56, 57, and 58 respectively, in the handle portion of that trowel so asto permit hanging the trowel upon a nail or other suitable support forthe purpose of storage.

lili/hereas many different types of wall linishing may be attained byuse of a trowel embodying the principles of the present invention,making it impractical to attemptto describe all the possible uses of thetrowel, four different types of wall finishing which may be attained bymy trowel, have been illustrated upon Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive. The lowerportion of Fig. 6 indicates the appearance of a wall 61 to whichsuitable plastic, cementitious material 62, either with or withoutsuitable pigmentation has been applied in the Vwell-known manner. Afterthe plastic, cementitious material 62 has been'spread upon the wall withthe desired'thickness, its exterior surface is roughened by formingrelatively long and preferably curved scratches or indentations 63therein. This is accomplished by means of a relatively coarsegrainedsponge, slightly different effects being attained by using a wetVsponge, from those secured if the sponge is dry. The sponge is draggedover the surface Vof the plastic material '62 with sufficient pressurethereagainst, to form the indentation 63 to a considerable ydepth asindicated atthe right hand end of Fig. 5. After all or a porti-on of thesurface of the plastic material 62 has been roughened in this manner,one ofmy improved smoothing trowels is applied` thereto. rl`he operatorgrasps the trowel as illustrated upon Fig. and drags the base orsmoothing portion thereof across the roughened surface of the-plasticmaterial 62,: exerting only that amount of pressure of the trowelagainst the wall to causethe outermostV portions of the irregularitiesin the surface thereof, to be smoothed, leaving the bottoms of thescratches or indentations 63 still visible as indicated at 64, althoughthe major portion of the wall is relatively smooth. The attempt is madein applying the trowel to the wall to moveit across the surface thereofin strokes roughly approximating the direction of the strokes made bythe roughened sponge, the dashed lines 66 vupon Fig. 6 indicatingsubstantially the type of stroke to be employed inproducing thisparticular finish.

Fig. 7 shows a different wall finish and the manner of attaining it.Here elongated and relatively straight scratches or indentations 67 areformed either with a wet or dry sponge, or with a relatively stiffbrush, to the plastic material 68, and subsequently a smoothing trowelis applied to the surface of the wall so as to roduce a wall nish whichis smooth throug out the major portion thereof, but in which straightand relatively narrow and shallow scratches or indentations 69 arevisible, these scratches 69 extending horizontally. The dashed lines 7lindicate that each stroke of the trowel is in a direction substantiallyparallel to the direction in which the smoothing sponge or brush isapplied to the wall. Upon Fig. 8 a similar type of wall finish isdepicted. Here, however, the roughening sponge or brush being movedvertically, produces vertically extending indentations 73. Then thesmoothing trowel is applied to the wall in vertical strokes 74,producing a finish 76 similar to that produced by the method indicatedupon Fig. 7 with the exception that the relatively narrow and shallowindentations extend vertically instead of horizontally. On Fig. 7 stillanother finish is illustrated wherein relatively deep stippling 77 isapplied by dabbing a sponge preferably relatively coarse, and either wetor dry, onto the surface of the plastic material 78, and then smoothingthe outer surface of the wall by dragging the smoothing portion of oneof the trowels thereacross in preferably straight strokes 79, thusproducing a substantially smooth wall with a slight, stippled effectthereupon.

Various other manners of using the smoothing trowel and the rougheningelements, will occur to anyone skilled in the art? to which thisinvention appertains-for example, the depth to which the rougheningelement is pressed and the length of each stroke of the rougheningelement may be varied as may also the degree of pressure exerted by thesmoothing trowel' against the surface of the wall. Similarly, the lengthof each stroke of the smoothing trowel and the direction of its strokemay also be varied, each of these variations producing a differentappearance in the ultimate wall. Consequently, a single tool may beemployed advantageously, to produce various types of wall finishes, thattool being of such a nature that it may be applied with the greatestfacility, producing the desired effect in the shortest possible lengthof time, even though the tool is of the greatest simplicity, andconsequently may be placed upon the market at a relatively low cost.

It is to be understood that the details of the invention as hereindisclosed, are subject to alteration within the spirit or scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

l. A smoothing trowel comprising a plate of a material of uniformresiliency and uniform thickness, said plate being relatively wideat oneend to provide a smoothing portion and relatively narrow at the otherend to provide a handle, said plate having a neck of reduced widthintermediatesaid ends to increase the flexibility thereof.

2. A smoothing trowel comprising a triangular plate of a material ofuniform resiliency and uniform thickness, said plate having a relativelywide base to provide a smoothing portion at one end of said plate, theother end of said plate being relatively narrow to provide a handle, theside edges of said plate having concave portions therein defining a neckof reduced width to increase the flexibility thereof.

3. A smoothing trowel comprising a plate of a material of uniformresiliency and uniform thickness, said plate having substantially theconfiguration of a right angle, the base of the triangle defined by saidplate being relatively wide to provide a smoothing portion and the sidesof said plate converging therefrom toward the apex of said triv angle todefine a relatively narrow handle portion, said sides being recessed todefinev a neck of reduced width thereby increasing the flexibility ofsaid plate intermediate its ends.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

D. R. HUMPHREYS.

